Worcester

Yes will dent the governments credibility, I would imagine they are desperately trying to stop this happening. Would not be surprised if there were additional security if they do manage to stop this.

BlackBerryAddict

It's clearly a major headache for airports and airlines - with indeed quick reconfiguration required. It also adds costs to the operation, which will eventually be passed on to the passengers (ie we have to pay for the "wall")

It seems that the EU has already written to the US government requesting urgent talks about this measure.

Arctic Troll

Yep, the guy who was ejected was the guy who took the bomb on board.

Of course, the main problem is that he was handed the laptop by ground crew after security. So banning it from the cabin achieves little. The ground crew could just as easily have planted it in a bag as it was loaded. The weak link still remains ground crew planting something, regardless of airport.

It's all just security theatre.

BABenchley

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'Urgent' international talks today on expanded laptop ban

Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly will speak with European officials Friday about their concerns about a potential expansion of the U.S. ban on carrying laptops and other large electronics on board some U.S.-bound flights.

DHS spokesman David Lapan said no decision is expected Friday on the possible expansion, which has caused consternation among some aviation officials and travel industry groups on both sides of the Atlantic. The department already prohibits laptops, tablets, e-readers and other electronic devices larger than a cellphone from riding in the cabins of planes from 10 airports in the Middle East.


The department and European Commission spokeswoman Anna-Kaisa Itkonen both said Kelly would speak Friday afternoon with several European officials. The Associated Press reported that they would include representatives of Britain, Germany, Spain and Italy — as well as France, whose current administration leaves office this weekend.

"Should something of this magnitude be planned, we, of course, want to do this in very good cooperation from the very start and then want to be informed," Itkonen said.

European representatives plan to emphasize the dangers of stowing so many laptops and their potentially flammable lithium batteries inside planes' cargo holds, noting that many aircraft still don't have in-hold fire prevention systems, one senior EU official said. European officials are also concerned that communication from the U.S. has been almost non-existent, and that nobody knows for sure which countries or airports might be affected.

DHS has said it is considering expanding the ban but has made no final decisions, despite a widespread expectation among the industry that an expansion is imminent. The department held briefings Thursday with U.S. senators and major domestic airlines.
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Source: Politico

dakaix

Sorry for the cross post, but this is relevant given BABenchley's last post.

Assuming this is genuine, it seems that DL might be jumping the gun a little...

Worcester

Worrying the the US does not seemed to have shared the intelligence this is based on with its allies.

theultimateflyer

Or they have and European countries (and other allies) don't think such an exaggerated response is warranted, or are realizing that the net benefit is negative due to potential for battery fires in the hold.

smuDC-10

If this ban does indeed go into effect I wonder how long it will last. Will it be permanent or just in place until security screening technology is somehow made better? I seem to recall that when flights resumed after 9/11 there was a period of a few weeks or months where many airlines allowed no hand baggage in the cabin (I don't remember if this was a law or just airline policy). I think one was given a clear plastic bag to keep wallet, keys etc in but that was it. I also remember instances years ago when I had to power on my electronic devices at security to prove that they worked. While this new ban seems rushed and ill thought out, I guess it isn't really uncharted territory for the airline industry.

windowontheAside

As I recall, the plastic bag could contain coins and notes but not the wallet itself.

One other allowed item was 'necessary female supplies'. I felt pretty awful for a woman I saw self-consciously clutching her plastic bag full of tampons and loose change.

Tobias-UK

Here is an article that has just appeared online ftom the Daily Mail. It appears there is lots going on in the background.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/ap/...ts-Europe.html

DYKWIA

A whiff of BS here me thinks :-

Considering the ban was for about a month, on US routes

Worcester

That's a shame, can't believe anyone apart from the most immature of children would find anything even remotely remarkable about feminine hygiene products?

T8191

This is disconcerting ...
The economic penalties might be quite severe.

scottish minnie

Well, that was the position I found myself at at Edinburgh airport on the morning the ban happened. We were flying to Canada, via Newark for a family wedding. We were allowed only loose money, passports, essential medication and female hygiene products in a plastic bag. Nothing allowed in pockets or on your person.
Whilst queueing with my plastic bag it seemed to attract quite a bit of attention from two older men behind me who were clearly, by their attire, of a different culture. Their disgust was apparent. I am no shrinking violet but it wasn't a pleasant experience.
It was nothing though compared to arriving at Toronto to find that the the hand-luggage contents we had been forced to check in were, in the case of some crystal which was intended as a wedding present, smashed to smithereens, and in the case of the well packed Wedgwood China, mobile phone and pieces of my grandmother's jewellery that the bride was borrowing for her big day, no longer in my luggage. It was a thieves charter and neither my home nor travel insurance would pay out for them

I also remember another then Continental flight to Newark where we were allowed hand luggage however once on board we were not allowed to retrieve it from the overhead bins at any point during the flight and we were not permitted to have anything in our hands or on our person during the flight. The inflight entertainment had been turned off, for security reasons, and no blankets were allowed. Even the tiny baby in the row across from us had her minuscule blanket removed. No personal music systems or headphones allowed absolutely nothing. It was the longest flight ever with nothing to read or watch - can't remember when that was but something makes me think it was after the incident with the lunatic who had explosives in his shoe

BlackBerryAddict

From the Daily Mail "The U.S. airlines still hope to have a say in how the policy is put into effect at airports to minimize inconvenience to passengers."

I think that is codespeak for "We do not want the ban to apply to us, but just to foreign airlines"

And on the Delta sign - I have seen a picture of a Heathrow one, but I cannot confirm the authenticity.